Trust for America's Health Initiatives

Environmental Health

Environmental Health

The World Health Organization estimates that 13 million deaths annually are due to preventable environmental causes.

Americans deserve healthy and safe places to live, work, and play. TFAH works to advance polices and programs to protect air, water, and food; minimize chemical exposures; and provide communities with healthier environments. TFAH has helped lead efforts to create a Nationwide Health Tracking System, to better understand how the environment impacts our health by looking for patterns and trends. Health tracking could help lead to breakthroughs in finding the causes and cures of many serious diseases.

 

 

Policy and Advocacy

For TFAH position statements and letters, congressional hearings, briefings and testimony, and additional policy and advocacy materials, click here.

Press Releases

June 20, 2017
Public Health Leaders Make Urgent Joint Call to Protect Prevention and Healthcare Joint Statement from American Public Health Association, Prevention Institute, Public Health Institute and Trust for America’s Health

May 23, 2017
The President’s FY 2018 Budget Proposal Would be Perilous for the Nation’s Health

March 7, 2017
TFAH Statement: Strongly Opposed to the House Obamacare Replacement Bill

February 24, 2017
TFAH Statement on the Draft House Republican Obamacare Replacement Bill: Our Nation’s Health Will Suffer

January 19, 2017
CDC to Lose More than $5 Billion, States to Lose More than $3 Billion to Fight Health Epidemics over Five Years, if the ACA and Prevention and Public Health Fund are Repealed

More press releases

Resources

Selected items from TFAH's Resource Library:

Natural Resources Defense Council An environmental action organization. It uses law, science and the support of 1.2 million members and online activists to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things.

TFAH Backgrounder on Climate Change and Public Health How Can We Prevent & Prepare for Health Issues in a Changing Climate? Climate change is expected to affect the health of all Americans. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), as the environment changes, people will be at a higher risk for a range of threats to our health. These effects may include increased heat-related deaths and sickness; risks of respiratory infections, aggravation of asthma, increased allergens, and premature death; an increase in the number of people at risk from disease and injury related to floods, storms, droughts and wildfires; mental health impacts; water shortages and malnutrition; and increased incidence of vector-, food-, and water-borne diseases.

The National Centers for Environmental Health: National Biomonitoring Program For more than 30 years, the Environmental Health Laboratory of CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH) has been performing biomonitoring measurements--direct measurements of people's exposure to toxic substances in the environment. By analyzing blood, urine and tissues, scientists can now measure actual levels of more than 450 chemicals and nutritional indicators in people's bodies.

American Academy of Allegy Asthma and Immunology An online tool with various information for individuals suffering from asthma or allergies, as well as tools for professionals in the field.

Association of Public Health Laboratories Public health laboratories serve as scientific first responders, protecting the public from diseases and identifying environmental health hazards.

More resources